For Koreans, as for all people, having the right phrase for the right occasion is the hallmark of politeness.

Insa

(in Hangeul it’s written

q¼õ



) literally means

people business

, and might loosely bedescribed as the art of greeting and talking casually to people in the proper way. In this ﬁrst unit of thecourse, we learn a few basic

Insa

.

1 Basic Insa

Hello. I’m ...

When we extend afriendly greeting to peoplewe usually say:

An

-

nyeong

-

ha

-

se

-

yo

?(

How are you?

)The standard reply is togive a positive answer, ie

ne

(

yes

), and ask the samequestion:

Ne

,

an

-

nyeong

-

ha

-

se

-

yo

?(

Good, how are you?

)Note that

an

-

nyeong

-

ha

- means

tobe at peace

. Thus, the literaltranslation of the exchangewould be:

Are you at peace

?and

Yes, and are you at peace

?To introduce ourselves,we say our name and theneither -

ye

-

yo

or -

i

-

e

-

yo

q´ P

Ü

Ä

;Vx§

?



¨óÀ

ö



<Wx§

.

An

-

nyeong

-

ha

-

se

-

yo

?

Ka

-

il

-

li wo

-

keo

-

ye

-

yo

.

63

,

q´ P

Ü

Ä

;Vx§

?

3NÁ9F V

-<Wx§

.

Ne

,

an

-

nyeong

-

ha

-

se

-

yo

?

Kim

-

sang

-

u

-

ye

-

yo

.

63

,

q´ P

Ü

Ä

;Vx§

?

wó

9R

uÙ

<Vx§

.

Ne

,

an

-

nyeong

-

ha

-

se

-

yo

?

Jon me

-

i

-

seun

-

i

-

e

-

yo

.

q´ P

Ü

Ä

;Vx§

?



¥

¾ßîÄ

<Vx§

.

An

-

nyeong

-

ha

-

se

-

yo

?

I

-

seon

-

yeong

-

i

-

e

-

yo

.

(

I’m ...

,

it’s ...

etc). We use -

ye

-

yo

if our name ends in a vowel sound, and -

i

-

e

-

yo

if it ends in aconsonant sound. Note that we are talking about

sounds

not

spelling

. See how people in the pictureidentify themselves.As you would expect, your name may have to be modiﬁed, slightly or dramatically, according to theKorean sound system. This modiﬁcation may have an impact on the choice between -

ye

-

yo

and

2

c



G Shin 2006

q¼õ



-

i

-

e

-

yo

. Here are some notes. First, with names that end in an

r

sound, eg

Barber

,

Miller

,

Taylor

, etc,Koreans don’t pronounce the ﬁnal

r

. These names are then seen to end in a vowel sound within theKorean sound system. This is why Kylie Walker in the picture chooses -

ye

-

yo

and says:

Ka

-

il

-

liwo

-

keo

-

ye

-

yo

(

not

Ka

-

il

-

li wo

-

keor

-

i

-

e

-

yo

).What happens if your name ends in an

l

sound? You will use -

i

-

e

-

yo

since your name ends in aconsonant, but the ﬁnal

l

sound in your name will be changed to

r

. Suppose your name is Debbie Bell.You will then introduce yourself in Korean:

inKorean, which of course means that they are to be treated as names ending in a vowel. Thus, we say:

Ha

-

teu

-

ye

-

yo

and

Ha

-

in

-

deu

-

ye

-

yo

(

not

Hat

-

i

-

e

-

yo

for instance).The same goes for names ending in

s

,

f

,

th

and their voiced counterparts (linguists call all these

fricative

sounds). If your name is Harris, you will say:

Hae

-

ri

-

seu

-

ye

-

yo

.With names such as

Bush

,

Dash

and

George

(the ﬁnal consonant of each is called a

palato-alveolar

sound), Koreans add the vowel

i

at the end. Thus if your name is George, you will say:

Jo

-

ji

-

ye

-

yo

.Ask your instructor, if your name is outside these notes.

Pleased to meet you.

When we meet people for theﬁrst time, we can also say:

Ban

-

gap

-

sseum

-

ni

-

da

(

Pleased to meet you

). The literal meaning is

I’m pleased

. Here the reason whyyou are pleased (ie

to meet you

) isimplied.The usual reply would be to say

ne

(

yes

) and echo the expression:

Ne

,

ban

-

gap

-

sseum

-

ni

-

da

(

Pleased to meet you, too

), whichmeans

Yes, and I’m pleased too

.

o´ ¡ë T

B



.

Ban

-

gap

-

sseum

-

ni

-

da

.

63

,

o´ ¡ë T

B



.

Ne

,

ban

-

gap

-

sseum

-

ni

-

da

.

Welcome. Come in.

You’re now visiting a Koreanfamily.Upon arrival, you’ll be greeted bythe family with an expression suchas:

Eo

-

seo o

-

se

-

yo

(

Welcome

).Here the literal meaning is

Come(in) quickly

. This may sound pushy,but it is an indication that your hostand hostess are so happy to see youthat they want you to come inwithout delay.Another common welcome is:

Deur

-

eo

-

o

-

se

-

yo

(

Come in

).

#T"Xx¦;Vx§

.

Eo

-

seo o

-

se

-

yo

.

q´ P

Ü

Ä

;Vx§

?

An

-

nyeong

-

ha

-

se

-

yo

?

¤÷

#Tx¦;Vx§

.

Deur

-

eo

-

o

-

se

-

yo

.

c



G Shin 2006

3

=V

1

»Î

Good-bye. See you again.

When someone is leaving,we say:

An

-

nyeong

-

higa

-

se

-

yo

(

Good-bye

:literally,

Please go in peace

).But if it is we who areleaving, we say:

An

-

nyeong

-

hi gye

-

se

-

yo

(

Good-bye

: literally,

Pleasestay in peace

) to whoever isstaying behind.We can of course add:

Ttoman

-

na

-

yo

(

See you again

:literally,

We meet again

).

q´ P

Ü

Ä

5;Vx§

.

An

-

nyeong

-

higye

-

se

-

yo.

63

,

q´ P

Ü

Ä

;Vx§

.

¦

n´ P

x§

.

Ne

,

an

-

nyeong

-

higa

-

se

-

yo.Tto man

-

na

-

yo.

Sorry I’m late.

For minor indiscretions, weusually say:

Mi

-

an

-

ham

-

ni

-

da

(

I’m sorry

:literally,

I’m upsetting things

).To respond, we say:

Gwaen

-

chan

-

a

-

yo

(

It’s OK

).To show our appreciation,we say:

Gam

-

sa

-

ham

-

ni

-

da

or

Go

-

map

-

sseum

-

ni

-

da

(

Thank you

: literally,

I’mgrateful

). The two expressionsare interchangeable.It might be useful at thisstage to know how to apologiseto your teacher for beingmoderately late to Koreanlanguage class. This is not toencourage you to be late! Butif you happen to be late, say:

Neuj

-

eo

-

seomi

-

an

-

ham

-

ni

-

da

(

Sorry I’mlate

). Here,

Neuj

- means

being late

, and -

eo

-

seo

because

.

q´ P

Ü

Ä

;Vx§

?

=

#T"X

q´ P®

"





.

An

-

nyeong

-

ha

-

se

-

yo

?

Neuj

-

eo

-

seo mi

-

an

-

ham

-

ni

-

da

.

3F S



®

"





.

Gam

-

sa

-

ham

-

ni

-

da

.

Æ

s

¬

ª

"



x§

.

:F `

x;Vx§

.

Gwaen

-

chan

-

a

-

yo

.

Anj

-

eu

-

se

-

yo

.

In the picture, upon the student’s apology, the friendly Korean teacher says

It’s OK

, and offers a seatby saying:

Anj

-

eu

-

se

-

yo

(

Take a seat

). The student then says

Thank you

.It is part of Western etiquette to acknowledge even minor services, such as the dispensing of ticketsor even the giving back of change, with a brief

Thank you

or equivalent. By contrast in Korea,expressions of this type are not used as often. They are usually reserved for acts of individualthoughtfulness, rather than actions performed as part of one’s job.